Using sustainable transportation alternatives can often be hindered by car dependence (Haustein, 2021). Within the context of Santa Monica, for example, approximately 75% of Santa Monica residents choose single occupancy vehicle (SOV) commutes to work, and over 50% of households own more than one vehicle (Data USA, n.d.). More generally, vehicle transportation accounts for 62% of greenhouse gas emissions in the city, making it the largest emissions contributor (Johnstone, 2021).
However,…
Behavioural Insights Projects
Discover projects applying behavioural science to policy from around the world. Add your own projects, whether completed or still ongoing, to contribute knowledge on BI applications across different countries, policy areas, and topics of interest.
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Legend: Projects status
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Challenge
Many people in developing nations have limited access to formal savings mechanisms, impeding their ability to save money and invest in agricultural inputs like tools and fertilizer that might help improve their crops. Among the many structural reasons for low savings rates (inaccessible banks, high transaction costs, distrust of financial institutions, lack of financial literacy), psychological barriers such as impatience or lack of self-control may also play a role. Additionally,…
We all know that if a 13-year-old has his mind set on
something, it is quite difficult to try to change it. This
is exactly the type of challenge that the Ministry of
Education in Peru is approaching with students in
public schools and high schools, targeting those from
low-income households in particular.
Teenagers often have pre-conceived ideas about their
own intelligence, which influences how they react to
academic challenges. If a student thinks he is not smart
enough, he believes there is…
Regulators require lenders to display a subset of credit card features in summary tables before customers finalize a credit card choice. Some jurisdictions require some features to be displayed more prominently than others to help ensure that consumers are made aware of them. This approach could lead to untoward effects on choice, such that relevant but nonprominent product features do not factor in as significantly. To test this possibility, we instructed a random sample of 1615 adults to…
BI Project
Can interventions in supermarkets reduce household food waste? A randomised controlled trial of…
The study was conducted in collaboration with eight supermarkets from two of the largest Swedish supermarket chains. The stores provided the natural environment in which to conduct an experiment using real shoppers and real purchases, without shoppers being aware of the study. Four different interventions (different price displays) were designed, based on insights from behavioural science. These signs were tested in a randomised controlled study for two common and perishable vegetables –…
Testing Labelling Dimensions for Chemicals in Products
BI Project
More conscious student borrowing behaviour: How can excessive loan amounts be avoided after the…
Are there ways to limit the accrual of excessive loan amounts by students? A letter sent to students with student loans who have received a supplementary grant increases the likelihood of them reducing their loan amounts. This increased likelihood translates to an annual average decrease of over € 150 in loan amounts for students receiving both a supplementary grant and a loan.
Why this experiment was conducted: award of supplementary grant sometimes has little or no impact on loan…
Hospital-care-associated infections (HCAIs) represent the most frequent adverse event during care delivery, affecting hundreds of millions of patients around the world. Implementing and ensuring conformity to standard precautions, particularly best hand hygiene practices, is regarded as one of the most important and cheapest strategies for preventing HCAIs. The behavioural sciences have documented the potential of adjusting seemingly irrelevant contextual features in order to ‘nudge’ people…
The Program of Applied Research on Climate Action in Canada (PARCA Canada) combines behavioural science (BeSci) insights and methods with robust policy analysis to promote climate action. One of the main areas of focus involves the launch of a longitudinal survey that will, over time, collect data on research questions of interest to the promotion of climate action in Canada (e.g. transportation, home energy use, waste management, engagement with nature, preparedness for extreme weather,…
Countries across the globe suffer from high rates
of youth unemployment and inactivity. The Maldives
are not immune. Despite efforts by the government
to increase employment opportunities among
young Maldivians, including the establishment
of employment quotas for nationals, results have
been underwhelming. Young people face barriers
such as social and gender norms around women’s
role in society, absence of role models to look up
to, and few jobs perceived as “suitable” for…